Baby State of Affairs: 4 months

Saturday, December 31, 2011


Max turned 4 months yesterday. Here's a quick update on what he's been up to lately.

Sleep: This last week, Max seems to have dropped his early morning (4 or 5am) feeding. He now sleeps 10-11 hours, usually from 8-9pm to 6-7am. Amazing. Day time naps are still fairly unpredictable, and he still needs to be rocked to sleep. Strangely enough he fell asleep sitting on my aunt's lap yesterday when we took him out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. That was definitely a first, but it makes me hopefully that one day you can just put him down and he'll fall asleep (fingers crossed).

Eating: When I'm at work, Max eats three 6.5oz bottles. Then I feed him twice when I get home. Since we've been on Christmas break, I've been strictly nursing so I have no idea how much he's been eating. It seems like a lot but lately he's been very distracted at the breast and will pop off often and look around. So who knows how much he's really drinking.

Social: Max is a very happy baby. He pretty much smiles as soon as you smile at him and he loves to talk and giggle (esp if you tickle him). It's the cutest thing ever.

Mobility: He seems to have much better head control these days (thank goodness). He now frequently flips over from his stomach to his back and enjoys semi standing when you hold him up supported. He also scrunches forward a lot more now when in your lap so I think he's wanting to sit up more and more.

Breastfeeding: I still have a lot of milk which appears to be problematic given how much Max sleeps at night. In the mornings, I'm pretty engorged and must race to the pump to relieve it. Unfortunately this makes me susceptible to clogged ducts which I just had a couple days ago. It took two days of vigorous (read: painful) squeezing, massaging, pumping, hand expression, frequent nursing, warm compresses, warm showers, etc to get it out. What emerged was a small hard ball of dried milk. Crazy.

Teething? We took a look at his gums yesterday and think he's starting to teeth. He's certainly been drooling a lot (since the 3 month mark really) and he's got two small lumps on his bottom gums.

Hair: A lot of his hair fell out this past month. There are random bald spots on the top of his head and in a circle around the back of his head. Max has a major comb over. However, there does seem to be a light at the end of tunnel. I examined his front hair line yesterday and there appears to be some new hair growing back. Whoo hoo!.

Last night, to celebrate Max's 4th month mark, we made him a cookie necklace. Apparently, this a chinese tradition where each person eats a cookie off of a necklace that the baby wears. Supposedly, this will cause the baby to drool less. Well, we ended up improvising by making chocolate chip cookies, which of course turned out to be too big. Max ended up wearing an enormous necklace, but I think he was ok with it since he was trying to take a bite.


That is, until he got angry when everyone started taking his cookies away.


Till next month!

The Feasting Continues



On Thursday, we made a delectable meal of shrimp scampi with angel hair pasta and sauteed chards. The scampi was quite good, very flavorful. No need to flavor the pasta much.



Last night, Monkey made a sun dried tomato brown rice risotto with sauteed kale and collard greens. Very simple and tasty. I could definitely eat risotto once a week.


Some time in between this, my aunt fried up some squid balls that were brought from Taiwan. I had one but it was perhaps a bit too squidy for me. Monkey gobbled them up.


Eating Our Way Through The End of 2011

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Holidays truly are a time for family. With my family, that also means a time of cooking and eating. Lots of cooking and eating. Here's most of what we've made since Monkey came to town.

Last Friday, we invited Spike and Frog over and my mom and aunt made chinese burritos and fried rice. Think paper thin wrapping stuffed with plethora of veggies, tofu, noodles, and shredded chicken (for those non vegetarians), topped with a delicious peanut sugar powder (homemade of course). I haven't had this in ages. It's very tasty and healthy to boot. Later in the night, I made chocolate chip cookies. Yum.


The next night, we had hot pot, aka big pot of boiling stock where you cook cabbage, taro, many types of mushrooms, tofus, fish balls, and thinly sliced meat. Everything gets dipped in your own little bowl of bbq sauce. So good, and again healthy to boot!


On Sunday of course, we had our big Christmas meal of brisket, scalloped potatoes, brussel sprouts and fallen chocolate cake with ice cream. Amazing!

On Monday, my mom and aunt made a healthy dinner of fried fish, veggies and rice. Since we basically have this every night during the week, I skipped out on the picture taking. You'll just have to take my word that it was good.

On Tuesday, I made Persian beef and celery stew. This was a real hit with the family. We all love sour things. Again, no picture because we were too busy eating. Oops. For dessert, we made Mexican wedding cakes. So flaky and bite sized. Monkey and I ate the majority of these.


Last night, Monkey and I hunkered down and made gnocchi with a gorgonzola cream sauce. SO GOOD. The gnocchi came out really well this time. I think partly because we used a scale to measure out the amount of potato and flour to add. It was perfectly fluffy and not the least bit gummy like last time. The sauce was also amazing. So easy to make yet so good. Since the cheese was salty, I tried not to add as much salt to the pasta water or sauce. Next time I think I could omit the pasta water salt altogether. For accompaniment, Monkey made a delicious salad of greens, roasted beets, goat cheese, and clementines.




For dessert, I made flan using a CI recipe which is better than the original one I found. I used a smaller pan so the custard layer is thicker. Unfortunately, my pan is oval but I have no oval plate to invert it onto. It doesn't look as nice on a round plate, but oh well. Still scrumptious!



All these meals were accompanied with copious amounts of wine, with the exception of hot pot night when we had copious amounts of soju.

More cooking to come!

Gnocchi
Courtesy of CI

2 pounds russet potatoes
1 large egg , lightly beaten
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (4 ounces) all-purpose flour , plus extra for the counter
1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon salt

1. FOR THE GNOCCHI: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Poke each potato 8 times with paring knife over entire surface. Microwave potatoes until slightly softened at ends, about 10 minutes, flipping potatoes halfway through cooking. Transfer potatoes directly to oven rack and bake until skewer glides easily through flesh and potatoes yield to gentle pressure, 18 to 20 minutes.
2. Holding each potato with potholder or kitchen towel, peel with paring knife. Process potatoes through ricer or food mill onto rimmed baking sheet. Gently spread potatoes into even layer and let cool for 5 minutes.
3. Transfer 3 cups (16 ounces) warm potatoes to bowl. Using fork, gently stir in egg until just combined. Sprinkle flour and 1 teaspoon salt over potato mixture. Using fork, gently combine until no pockets of dry flour remain. Press mixture into rough ball, transfer to lightly floured counter, and gently knead until smooth but slightly sticky, about 1 minute, lightly dusting counter with flour as needed to prevent sticking.
4. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and dust liberally with flour. Cut dough into 8 pieces. Lightly dust counter with flour. Gently roll piece of dough into ½-inch-thick rope, dusting with flour to prevent sticking. Cut rope into ¾-inch lengths. Holding fork with tines facing down in 1 hand, press each dough piece cut side down against tines with thumb of other hand to create indentation. Roll dough down tines to form ridges on sides. If dough sticks, dust thumb or fork with flour. Transfer formed gnocchi to sheets and repeat with remaining dough.

Gorgonzola Cream Sauce
Courtesy of CI

3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup dry white wine
4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese , crumbled (1 cup)
2 tablespoons fresh chives , minced
Salt and pepper

Bring cream and wine to simmer in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Whisking constantly, gradually add Gorgonzola, and cook until melted and sauce is thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in chives and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover to keep warm.

Flan
Courtesy of CI

1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon grated zest from 1 lemon
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups low-fat milk (see note)

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place a kitchen towel in the bottom of a large baking dish or roasting pan and place a 9-inch cake pan in the center. Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan, swirling the pan gently, until the sugar has dissolved, about 3 minutes. Reduce to a simmer and cook, gently swirling the pan occasionally, until the mixture has caramelized to a deep, dark mahogany color, 7 to 10 minutes. Carefully and slowly pour the caramel into the cake pan, being careful not to splash caramel onto yourself or outside of the cake pan, and cool slightly until hardened.
2. Bring a kettle or large saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, whisk the whole eggs and egg yolks together in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute. Whisk in the zest, sweetened condensed milk, and low-fat milk. Pour the mixture into the cake pan, and gently place the roasting pan on the oven rack. Being careful not to splash any water inside the pan of custard, pour the boiling water into the roasting pan until the water reaches halfway up the side of the cake pan. Bake until the center of the custard is just barely set, is no longer sloshy, and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center registers 170 to 175 degrees, 30 to 40 minutes (start checking the temperature after 25 minutes).
3. Carefully remove the roasting pan from the oven and carefully transfer the cake pan to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. Wrap the cake pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate the custard until completely chilled, at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

Christmas Dinner

Monday, December 26, 2011


Another holiday has come and gone. This year we decided to repeat the brisket and scalloped potatoes from yester year. Yes, they were THAT good. To accompany, we sauteed up some brussel sprouts with butter, chicken stock, and a little nutmeg. Simple and delicious.




For dessert, we made individual fallen chocolate cakes with homemade vanilla ice cream. Soooo good. It's too bad Max couldn't enjoy this food yet. Till next year!


Too Much of a Good Thing?

Saturday, December 17, 2011

I've got over 300 oz of milk in my freezer and I'm rapidly running out of space. What to do? Should I start throwing away the old stuff and keeping freezing the new? I'm hesitant to throw any out since I know at some point my milk supply will go down. There's always the irrational fear that your milk will run out. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to the day I produce exactly what Max drinks so I can stop feeling so engorged in the mornings or having to deal with sporadic plugged ducts (had one yesterday). Sigh.

On a side note, I finally got to witness Max flip over from his tummy to his back today! No one else was around of course, and he only did it once, but still! What a great milestone.

El Jefe

Wednesday, December 14, 2011


We took Max to the ped today for his 3.5 month check up. Here are his stats:

Weight: 16lbs 14oz (99th percentile!!)
Height: 25.5 inches (93rd percentile)
Head: 16.5 inches (68th percentile)

What a huge baby! Who would have thought I'd have such a big boy? I think the nurse measured his head wrong too because she didn't seem to put the tape around the biggest part of his head. I'll have to hunt down some tape to see if it's accurate. Other than that everything seems great. He had his second round of shots. Cried like a banshee immediately afterwards but calmed down pretty quickly.

According to my mom, he flipped over from his front to side yesterday but I haven't seen it. Hopefully he'll do it again when I'm around.

Oops

Saturday, December 10, 2011


A couple weeks ago, I ordered a cute bear jacket for Max. After trying it on today, I realized the jacket is rather girly looking. Badge disapproved.

Baby State of Affairs: 3 months

Monday, December 5, 2011


Max turned 3 months last week! Boy has the time flown by.

His personality is showing more and more. He's such a happy little baby. Smiles and giggles like crazy, very vocal. The only time he cries is when he gets tired and needs someone to rock him to sleep. At night he sleeps anywhere from 7-9 hours, wakes up to eat and then sleeps another 3ish. The other day he even slept 10.5 hours straight! Pretty amazing. I cross my fingers every night that this pattern doesn't change.

As far as eating, he takes three 5 oz bottles during the day while I'm at work. Then I feed him twice at night and once more in the middle of the night. I have no idea how much he is drinking from the breast but I imagine it's got to be roughly the same? I can't wait to take him to the ped in two weeks to see how his stats of changed. He's definitely a lot heavier and super long. He's currently wearing 6 month onesies and sometimes we even put him in 9 month onesies when we run out of clothes. What a big baby! His size has even inspired my latest tune that I sing for him entitled "Baby Burrito", which goes:

Baby Burrito
Baby Burrito
The biggest burrito...I know

Yes...anywaaaaay...he grabs on to things pretty well when you stick them in his hand but I don't think he's quite realized that his hands are part of his body yet haha. Sadly, all the beautiful hair he was born with is starting to fall out. He's got some sparse spots on his big ol' head.

Breastfeeding is going well. Pumping at work hasn't been so bad since there's a mother's room right down the hall from me. I've even got 270 oz saved up in the freezer, which I really need to start cycling through. I plan to give my mom 2 fresh bottles to give Max and use the third from the freezer stash. That way we keep using the old milk up.

In the poop arena, he still poops once or twice a day although last week he did skip a day. Last week he also had a middle of the night poop which he hasn't done in over a month. As you can tell, his poop is the topic of much discussion in our household.

Regarding daycare, my mom has been watching Max Mon-Thurs and then Spike watches him Fridays. Badge and I then fly solo on the weekend with extra Spike help when needed (e.g. when I run out to yoga while Badge is at soccer). We're truly blessed to have so much help. Till the next month update!

Digital Scrapbooking

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Monkey has turned me on to another addicting hobby: digital scrapbooking! Rather than spend hours meticulously cutting paper and gluing stuff together, you spend hours meticulously arranging (and rearranging) images and text in photoshop. Once done, you can get your pages printed and put them in an album.

Sure, this might seem like a huge time killer, but when you can make adorable pages like the one below I think it's well worth it. This two page layout is pretty simple but not bad for my first shot.


Can't wait to slowly put together Max's 1st year album.

Happy Little Boy

Friday, December 2, 2011


Here's my happy little boy smiling for Daddy.

Random Foods

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Monkey and I have been making random foods for my family. Since I enjoy sweets, I've made tiramisu and chocolate bread pudding.


And the other night, Monkey made kimchi quesadillas with eggs, cheese, and homemade flour tortillas. Who would have guessed that combo would be tasty? Her homemade tortillas were really good. Nice texture and crisped up really well.